Unisonia
by Tankyu-sha
Summary: Fate is changed. A paradox is broken. Free from the bonds of Fate, Aoba and Hina go back to where it all began, to live a new life... together. Aoba/Hina, alternate ending to Buddy Complex's finale.


Watase Aoba had a feeling of déjà vu, seeing that purple Valiancer beyond Hina's mech. It hadn't been so very long ago, from his point of view, that it had been trying to kill him as he fled on a bicycle, bullets and spear thrusts coming so close.

Hina had saved him then, almost killing the mad pilot and sending Aoba himself tumbling into the future.

They were back in the time tunnel where he'd last seen that Valiancer, but there was a difference now. Aoba had his own machine, he wasn't just a passenger with no clue of what he'd gotten himself into. He was a blooded veteran.

Nor was he alone. "Aoba, we only have one shot," Dio snapped at him, gruff as ever. "Don't miss!"

"Roger that!"

All those weeks ago, Aoba had been alone, on a bike, just trying to stay alive. Today, he was in the air, and he was _not_ running away again. Not now that he finally had Hina on his side, the Hina he remembered, not the enemy who had rebuffed him with violence.

He leveled his Nectar rifle over the shoulder of Hina's Valiancer, seeing Dio do the same out of the corner of his eye. This was it: the end of the one who had hurt Hina, and the end of the endless time paradox that had trapped her.

"_What the hell do you bastards think you're doing now?!"_

Aoba ignored the voice. Now he had a lock, and his finger was ready on the trigger. "So long," he whispered, and fired.

At the same time, Dio triggered his own weapon, the twin streams of fire catching the enemy Valiancer above and below the cockpit. Struck with what were, essentially, stripped-down battleship cannons, the Valiancer came apart, torn into debris that was sucked into the time tunnel and tumbled away into the timestream.

Improbably, Aoba could see the pilot tumble free, still alive. Then, almost before the sight could register, he felt a pulse of sadness across the Coupling link he still shared with Hina; just a moment of regret and loss, then hardened determination.

Hina's rifle fired an instant later, wiping the Zogilian pilot from the universe. Only very, very small pieces fell back into the tunnel.

It was done. That just left… "We'd better get out of here," Aoba called. "If it's anything like last time, the singularity won't last much-"

A kick to his back startled him. It was only a second, but it was enough for the gravitational forces to take firm hold of Luxon, and by extension Hina's Valiancer. Still locked together, they tumbled away, swinging Aoba's view around in the process.

A view of Dio's Bradyon, backing away from them. "Dio?!" Aoba blurted. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Go home," Dio told him bluntly. "Your role is done, now."

"What?!" Shock and anger warred within the time-lost pilot. "Dio, you son of a-!"

"I'm not calling you useless, you idiot." There was something accompanying Dio's usual contempt, something Aoba would've labeled "friendliness" in any other man. "But this is battle is over, and Zogilia is on the defensive now. A single Coupler, no matter how skilled, is no longer crucial to the war effort."

"But I can still-!"

"You could still be a great help," he acknowledged, tone softening. "But you're not a soldier, Aoba. And this isn't your war." On the comm display, Dio actually smiled, though it looked like it took some effort. "You've got your Hina back, Aoba, now go and live the life you were supposed to. We'll handle the rest from here."

"Dio-!"

Bradyon was lost to view a moment later, carried away by the flow of time itself, leaving Luxon and Hina's Proto-Valiancer alone. Alone, and shaking; Aoba recognized the effect from his first trip through a singularity, though at least his Valiancer seemed to be holding together this time.

…_I can't believe him,_ he thought wonderingly. _He picks now, of all times, to be a softie? …Give Fiona my best, you bastard…_

"Aoba!" Hina called. "What did he just do?"

"A favor, I think," Aoba replied, shaking his head. Turning Luxon carefully, he got a more solid grip on Hina's Valiancer. "Hold on, this could get a little rough."

A long pause, as they fell through time. Then, "You could've left me behind, Aoba."

He smiled. For all the concern in her voice, he could _feel_ her gratitude across the Coupling. "No," he said simply, as things started to fade around them in an effect he remembered a little _too_ vividly. "I couldn't do that, Hina. I couldn't let you go again."

An indefinable warm feeling came across the link, and then the world went away.

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly, for Aoba. Not quite as long as the last time, perhaps _because_ this had happened to him before, but it was still a challenge to wake from the dream he'd been having, to remember what it was that had happened.

_Hina,_ he thought muzzily. _I dreamt that Hina finally found herself, and that I… And Dio… What did Dio do…?_

Aoba blinked, vision slowly coming into focus. It was clear daylight above him, not the rainstorm that was the last thing he clearly remembered. And there was no yellow vortex… Yellow vortex? _The time tunnel! Hina!_

He rapidly shook his head, memory flooding back. He couldn't feel Hina via the Coupling System anymore, but then he vaguely remembered hearing that it would automatically shut down if one of the partners lost consciousness, so that didn't necessarily mean anything. But still-

Aoba glanced quickly about, taking in his surroundings. He was still in Luxon NX, but he wasn't in the sky anymore; he was instead, as nearly as he could tell, lying against a cliff, half-submerged. And there was no sign of Hina's Valiancer.

He almost panicked, but forced himself to think things through. _The first time around,_ he reminded himself, _I was in Hina's cockpit at the start, but woke up in Luxon. For that matter, the time tunnel was in Alaska on that end, yet came out here somewhere near Japan, so maybe Hina just landed somewhere else._

Fingers flying across his instrument panel, Aoba brought up Luxon's navigation systems. It took them a few moments, but soon he was assured that he was somewhere along the coast, not too far from his home of Tokyo. Almost as an afterthought, the systems were able to give him the date: September 1st, 2014.

_The day everything started,_ Aoba thought. _I'm right back where I started, just like Dio thought. But I still need to know…_

A few more keystrokes brought up the Coupling Urgent Search Mode. If anything could tell him what he needed to know, it would be that. Just like when Dio had to search for him after a storm, now he needed to find Hina.

A couple of minutes' work, and he had part of his answer. Hina's Proto-Valiancer gave a response from a few kilometers away from his position; the problem was, it was apparently _fully_ submerged, and Hina didn't seem to actually be aboard.

Aoba hoped that meant that she'd submerged it herself, and gone to the shore. It was a logical course of action, and come to think of it, that was probably what he should with Luxon, himself.

_Okay, don't panic,_ he told himself. _If Hina's here, and she's okay, she'll probably have gone into the city. Looking for me, probably. So…_

That settled it. He'd take Luxon as close to Tokyo as he could, close it up, and submerge it, then go to shore himself and get back to town. In addition to finding Hina, it occurred to him that his family would probably be worried sick about now, especially if the Valiancer attack had, somehow, been retained in any fashion in the changed timeline.

…_I'd better find a change of clothes, too. A flightsuit would be a little hard to explain to Mom and Tsubasa._

* * *

To judge from the amount of chaos Aoba saw in the city, emergency vehicles everywhere, some people still scrambling about in blind panic, the Valiancer attack had indeed still occurred somehow. Even though he and Dio had destroyed it before it could come through, and Hina had personally killed the pilot.

_Of course,_ he thought, jogging down the streets toward his own home, _by rights I should've disappeared from the future the moment that happened. With that pilot dead before he _could_ attack, there shouldn't have been any way for me to end up in the future to begin with…_

This was making his head spin. _I hate time travel. …Or I would, except I would never have met Hina without it._ That idea, somehow, just wasn't something he could bring himself to dwell on. He hadn't had a chance to get to know her _that_ well yet, but the idea of not having the chance to was unbearable.

_That's why,_ he thought, passing by a building still showing the signs of having a robot of equivalent size crash into it, _as soon as I've gotten home and reassured Mom and Tsubasa that I'm not dead, I've got to try and find her. I didn't go through all this just to lose her now!_

Although, Aoba realized, there was the slight complication that he didn't actually know where Hina _lived_ in this time. He'd been vaguely aware of her existence prior to her being seated beside him at the start of the new term, but he certainly hadn't known her well enough to find out anything about her personal life.

_One thing at a time. I can probably find out online easily enough; the school registry or something._ _Can't be that hard._

The idea of just looking something up on the internet like "usual" gave him a brief feeling of dislocation. It'd only been a few weeks, but after spending those weeks fighting in what was apparently a global war between the Confederate Alliance and Great Zogilia, the -mostly- peaceful streets of Tokyo felt strange.

Aoba had never been away from home for an extended period before. He wondered if that, combined with the sheer culture shock of having found himself seventy years in the future, with no trace even of his house, had anything to do with the strangeness. After all, he'd gone in the space of a few weeks from peaceful Tokyo to a world that had forgotten him, unable to find out even if any of his family was still alive, and fought for his life in battle after battle.

Not to mention his frustratingly difficult and confusing quest to reunite with Hina and figure out what happened in the first place.

Now, after all that, he was back, as if he'd never left at all…

After an agonizingly long run, Aoba's house was finally in view, and his heart rate picked up in a way not at all related to the exertion. From their perspective, his family had only seen him this morning; from his, it had been several weeks, weeks of not knowing if he'd ever see them again.

He flung the front door open, and was greeted with an immediate, "Watase Aoba! Where have you _been?!"_

His mother was waiting for him, as he'd have-expected, a look of mixed anxiety and anger on her face. "Sorry, Mom," he said, bowing contritely. "I got caught up in that-whatever it was that happened today. I was running away from it, and got knocked out by a bit of debris. I've already been checked out by paramedics," he added hastily, before she could lay into him about hospitals or something. "I'm fine, Mom, really."

She pursed her lips, the anxiousness leaving, along with some of the anger. "…And why didn't you at least _call,_ Aoba?" she demanded.

"I lost my phone somewhere along the line." Aoba shrugged helplessly. "It got kinda crazy, Mom."

_That was even mostly the truth… from a certain point of view, anyway._

His mother stared at him a moment longer, before sagging in visible relief. "All right, then. I'm just glad you're safe." She smiled now, gesturing for him to come all the way into the house. "Your classmate told us you were probably okay, but she didn't know exactly where you'd ended up. She said you'd gotten separated just before the incident ended."

Aoba blinked. "Classmate?" he repeated, following her to the dining room. "What classmate?" He'd been with Ryutaro and Junichi at the start of the attack, but he'd fled by himself to try and lead the Valiancer away. After that, there'd just been-

"Hmph! You're late, Aoba!" his sister, Tsubasa, berated him. "We had to hear the story from your friend, instead!"

His sister, Tsubasa, next to whom was sitting a very familiar girl, somehow in the school uniform he hadn't managed to find a new set of yet. She was smiling, looking distinctly relieved at his appearance.

"H-Yumihara?!" Aoba blurted, only barely remembering in time that, temporal mechanics being as screwy as they were, "this" Hina might not be so familiar with him. Either way, he'd been intending to look for her just as soon as he got through answering his family's questions.

He certainly hadn't expected to find her joining his family for dinner!

"I told you to call me Hina," she admonished him. "Remember?"

Aoba sagged in profound relief, and quickly sat at the table himself before his legs could give out entirely. "Sorry, Hina," he said, scrambling mentally to fit this into the cobbled-together story he was feeding his family. "It's just been kind of a crazy day."

The look she gave him indicated complete agreement on _that_ point… including the parts he wasn't mentioning aloud. "It sure has. Some start to the new term, huh?"

Before he could reply to that, Tsubasa gave a loud sniff. "I don't see why you're complaining, Aoba, since it seems like you got a girlfriend out of the deal."

With such synchronicity that an observer would've suspected the Coupling System was involved, Aoba and Hina turned to stare at her, blushing. "It's not like that!"

"Saying it at the same time doesn't help your case, you know."

"Now, now," Aoba's mother chided gently, settling down at the table herself. "Be polite, Tsubasa. Hina-chan is going to be a guest here, so mind your manners."

Aoba's head whipped around, turning his incredulous stare on her. "Um. What?" He looked next at Hina, whose blush brightened; she couldn't even meet his eyes, looking off to one side instead.

"There _was_ quite a bit of damage today," his mother reminded him. "One of those… robots… hit the building where Hina-chan's apartment is. It's going to be closed for repairs for at least a few weeks, so, since she's a friend of yours, with no family, I offered to let her stay here for now."

…_Um. That's… Uh. I wonder if it's even true? …Must be, I can't see Hina trying this on purpose… right? And, I mean, it _could_ be true; that Valiancer did shoot things up quite a bit, and Hina accidentally caused some damage herself-_

Another sniff from Tsubasa cut off his rambling thoughts. "Girlfriend or not, I can't see you objecting," she said knowingly. "And maybe she'll even help get you out of bed on time!"

Aoba felt mildly betrayed when his mother nodded in agreement on that point. He felt a little better when Hina gave him a sympathetic smile, but it still left him feeling decidedly off-balance, even punch-drunk.

"Well," his mother said now, "how about we eat before the food gets cold? It's only ramen, but after the day we've all had…"

"It _has_ been a long one," Hina agreed, looking knowingly at Aoba. "I wonder what on earth happened?"

_Hah. Now _there's_ a question. A long day… Mom and Tsubasa don't know the half of it. Actually, I think it's been a bit longer than a normal day for me; plus the battle that started it… No wonder I feel so tired._

"Well," Aoba said aloud, reaching for his bowl, "I guess it's up to the authorities now. We got out of it alive, so I'm not going to worry about it anymore." He smiled, shaking his head ruefully. "And hey, I bet there's no school tomorrow; _that's_ probably closed for repairs, too!"

Tsubasa pouted. "Lucky," she muttered.

_Gotcha. Payback for the "girlfriend" comment, sis._ He laughed to himself, sharing another look with Hina. _You're ten years too young to compete with Dio in messing with me. He taught me well._

Things settled down after that, mostly a companionable silence, interspersed with occasional comments and moments of small talk. Hina, to Aoba's relief, was fielding her own side of things quite well, even though from her perspective, she hadn't actually gone through the months of school with him that he remembered. At least, she hadn't if he understood the temporal mechanics correctly.

Which, admittedly, he likely didn't. His brain hurt just trying to figure out the original loop, let alone having transcended it.

The technical details didn't really matter to him, though. What mattered to Watase Aoba was that he was home, with his mother and sister, decades before the war that would tear up the world. He even had Hina sitting right across from him, no longer his enemy, no longer even a soldier. Just a classmate, and, just maybe, his friend.

…_Good luck, Dio. And thanks, you siscon bastard. For everything._

* * *

By the time Aoba finally made it to bed, he was thoroughly exhausted. For him, the escape from Bizon's attack had been weeks ago, not this afternoon, but what he _had_ gone through at that point in his subjective timeline was if anything even more taxing. Two different Couplings, the stress of combat, trying to snap Hina out of her brainwashing, falling through a time tunnel again…

_I haven't been this beat since I had to dig my way out of a cave-in,_ he thought, flopping down on his bed. _Maybe not even then. Not that it wasn't all worth it, but I'm glad there's probably no school tomorrow. I don't know that I'd be up to it._

Maybe it was the weeks of being a pilot on a ship in wartime, but despite his exhaustion, Aoba woke readily when he heard a soft knock at his door. "Aoba?" he heard a quiet voice say.

_Hina?_ "Come on in," he called back, equally quiet; if his clock was to be believed, it was past one in the morning, an odd time for Hina to be calling for him. _On the other hand, maybe it's the perfect time, if it's anything we don't want my family to hear._

His door opened a little ways, and Hina slipped in quickly, shutting it softly behind her. "Sorry if I woke you," she said, "but… we didn't really have much chance to talk earlier."

Aoba chuckled. "Yeah, kinda hard to talk about time travel and stuff like that around my family." He pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall, and patted the side of the bed. "Sit down, Hina."

She complied, though somewhat to his surprise she chose to stretch out on the bed next alongside him, instead of just sitting on the edge. Hina had, fortunately for his peace of mind, obtained a simple t-shirt and pair of shorts to sleep in, but he still jumped a little when she leaned against his shoulder.

"Um… Hina?"

"I'm tired, too," she explained indirectly. "…Sorry."

She didn't sound exactly contrite, but Aoba let it pass. Truth be told, he didn't _mind_ having her lean on him; it just surprised him a little. Exactly what they were to one another, he still wasn't sure. From his point of view, they'd known each other, however distantly, for a good five months before the catalyst of war got them to learn a lot about each other in a short time-once they got past Hina trying to kill him on sight, anyway.

As far as he knew, from her perspective they'd only had a chance to talk of anything but death threats three times, only one of them not under dire stress. Exactly what kind of relationship, friendship or otherwise, could be built from that, he didn't know.

_Not that I don't want to find out, of course. At least now we've got the time for it; I remember Mayuka-chan's history lessons well enough to be sure of that._

"It's strange, being back here," Hina murmured eventually, breaking a long but not really uncomfortable silence. "It feels like so long since I've just been in school."

"I know what you mean. To Mom and Tsubasa, I just left this morning, but to me it's been weeks." He turned his head to look down at her. "I don't even understand how any of this is really possible. We killed Bizon before he could come back, but the attack still happened; and you're here, outside the loop."

"I don't think anyone understands temporal mechanics," she said, shrugging slightly. "As far as I know, outside the small-scale use in the Coupling System, you and I are the first true time-travelers. And I don't know about you, Aoba, but I'm not even a regular physicist." Hina paused. "Somehow… I remember what happened last time. I remember being here, attending school for months before Bizon ever arrived; when I came out of the time tunnel, it all just hit me."

Aoba felt a small rush of relief at that. As confusing as it was, it meant that Hina had more memories of him than just in combat or on that island, however distant they might've been with each other during that period.

"So that's how you got that school uniform," he realized. "You remembered where your apartment was."

"It really was trashed, too," she confirmed. A quiet giggle. "I didn't expect your mother to offer to let me stay here, though. I just mentioned it as part of the cover story when I came here looking for you. I don't _mind,_ not at all, but…"

"It's a little weird," Aoba agreed. "Just like going back to school."

"Mm. I'm… not really sure what's going to happen now," Hina confessed. "My memories are still a little jumbled, but I know I didn't exactly come here expecting to just live as a normal teenager. I enrolled at school to protect you from the attack you told me was coming, and I didn't really think of what would happen beyond that."

Aoba took a chance, and lightly took her hand in his. "Well," he said, smiling, "I know how life normally is for a Japanese high school student, so… I can help you out when you get lost."

She looked up at him, a faint blush staining her face, and turned her hand to hesitantly grip his in return. "Thanks, Aoba. For that, and… everything else."

His mind flashed back to the various hardships they'd experienced together, since Hina had stopped trying to kill him on sight. The cave-in, the subsequent near-drowning, arranging for her rescue by her own people rather than being held as POW by the _Cygnus…_

Also, of course, their meeting during the infiltration mission that had killed Hina's father. He'd been there, offering what little comfort he could over both her father's death and her realization that she wasn't who she thought she was. Only to have Bizon interrupt and nearly kill both of them, stopping Hina just when it looked like she was about to come over to Aoba's side.

Leading to Hina being used as a guinea pig and weapon by her own people, a fate Aoba had only narrowly interrupted; then, in the end, his decision to break the paradox she'd been trapped in, even without knowing what the consequences to the timeline -or himself- might be.

All of it began with Hina saving his life. As far as he was concerned, he was just returning the favor, extending to her the trust and consideration she deserved for what she'd done for him.

"I couldn't do anything else," Aoba said at last. "In that future, I didn't know anything else. I was a fish out of water, and the only lead I had was you… the one who saved _my_ life, even if you didn't seem to remember it."

Hina glanced away. "You almost threw away your chance to go home, you know," she muttered, unable to meet his eyes. "If your friend hadn't kicked us down the time tunnel…"

"I told you before, Hina," he said patiently. "I couldn't just leave you behind. I wasn't about to let you go again."

He meant it, too. Even if it had meant staying in that war-torn future, he wouldn't have regretted saving Hina from the paradox. The thought of her being trapped for all eternity, experiencing nothing but the same ten-year period over and over again… it was enough to make him sick. It was a fate far worse than death, as far as Watase Aoba was concerned.

At length, just when Aoba felt as if he was going to drop off again in the somehow companionable silence, Hina stirred. "…I should probably go back to my room," she said reluctantly, slipping off the bed. "I don't know your family very well yet, but I don't think they'd approve if I spent the night in here."

Aoba sighed, feeling a strange mixture of relief and disappointment. "You're probably right," he agreed, following her to the door. "At least," he added with a smile, "it's not like we won't have plenty of time to talk later."

She smiled back, that faint blush still on her face. "That's right, Aoba. Everything has only just begun, for us."

The quick, impulsive hug Hina gave him before slipping back out of the room made Aoba feel a little lightheaded, but at the same time pretty much made up for her departure.

_Junichi will have a field day with this, when he finds out Hina's actually living with me right now,_ he thought, dazedly returning to his bed. _So will Ryutaro. …I've connected my mind to two other people, flown faster than a normal human brain can see, survived half a dozen battles between giant robots, and even traveled through time… and I'm terrified about being teased about my love life._

Collapsing onto his bed again, still feeling an echo of Hina's body pressed against his for that brief moment, Aoba twitched in sudden realization. _Oh, hell. Maybe Dio's right about me being dense._

_I think that teasing… might be right. ….I'm doomed._

* * *

For all the trouble adjusting to being back in his own time, things settled into a comfortable routine for Aoba soon enough. Hina joining his family for meals took some getting used to, but it added a liveliness that he couldn't really remember his house having since his father died.

Even Tsubasa quickly warmed up to the time-shifted girl, even if she did insist on calling Hina Aoba's girlfriend all the time. He wasn't sure if she was just messing with him, specifically, or if she genuinely believed it; either way, Hina soon gave up on denying on it.

Aoba kept it up, if only out of fear of what would happen if his friends got wind of it. Hina had told him that Ryutaro was apparently convinced there was something there as it was, and Junichi… No, he didn't really want to think about how bad Junichi's teasing would get.

In the wake of the "mysterious attack", there was a lot of construction work around the vicinity of the school, repairing the damage done by Bizon's assault and subsequent clash with Hina's Valiancer. Despite that, news reports soon trickled off; there simply wasn't any more information to be had, nothing but wild speculations. The military had retrieved the scraps of both Valiancers that had been blown off during the battle, but they weren't disclosing anything they might've learned.

In the end, Aoba suspect, the whole affair would become the stuff of urban legends. There was plenty of footage, official and otherwise, to prove that there had indeed been a giant robot attack in Tokyo, but no one would ever know the truth. Not for another seventy-four years, anyway, and he still had no idea what effect his return to his own time had on the future he'd left.

Given that Bizon's attack had still occurred to some degree, despite being killed before he could launch it, history would probably still record Aoba's presence aboard the _Cygnus._ Probably.

By the time the school was finally repaired enough for class to resume, Hina was still living at the Watase residence; her apartment building had been declared a total loss -Aoba had learned it was one of the buildings that had been directly crashed into during the attack- so she was having to do some house-hunting now. In the meantime, Aoba's mother was entirely content to let her stay-possibly, Aoba had to admit, because Hina really _did_ manage to get him up on time in the morning.

Being formally-trained military apparently had that effect on someone's sense of punctuality.

The morning that school finally reopened, Aoba was dragged out of bed ahead of his preferred schedule by an amused Hina, giving him time to actually _eat_ his breakfast instead of inhaling it. "I knew Hina-san would be good for you, Aoba," Tsubasa declared smugly, once both were at the breakfast table. "It's about time _someone_ got you to do things on time."

"I'm always on time for the train," he protested, groggily picking up a piece of toast. "I haven't been late for school once."

"Only because you run all the way to the station. I'm surprised you don't lose your breakfast, trying that all the time."

Hina giggled at the byplay. She'd only been living there a couple of weeks, but it'd been enough for her to get used to the way Tsubasa sniped at her brother. It reminded her of happier times, Aoba thought, times she'd mentioned her team had had before the attack on _Cygnus'_ hidden base had set off the downward spiral.

For that, alone, he was willing to endure his sister's taunts. He'd seen how Hina was as a soldier, even before her own comrades' actions had started dragging her down. Hina Ryazan, from what he'd been able to determine, had not really had much outside of her duties. Yumihara Hina, on the whole, seemed an awful lot happier.

Having gotten up so much earlier than usual, Aoba found it kind of strange to be able to leisurely walk out the door and head for the train station at something less than a breakneck pace. He actually found it hard not to immediately break into a run, just out of habit.

"You okay, Aoba?" Hina asked him, noticing his impatience.

"Ah, it's nothing," he said, scratching his head ruefully. "It's just, well… Tsubasa might have had a point about my sleeping habits. Normally I'd be in a pretty big hurry right now."

She shook her head, smiling in fond exasperation. "Aoba, sometimes I wonder how you were so successful as a pilot. To hear your family tell it, you don't pay enough attention to things like getting somewhere on time."

Aoba groaned. "Now you're starting to sound like Dio," he complained. "Y'know, even I know the difference between a normal school day and being _shot at._ Just because my priorities are different doesn't mean I don't know how to be serious when I have to be."

She laughed. "I guess that's true, but I thin Dio probably disagreed the first few times you almost let me shoot you."

"He just didn't understand, that's all." He shrugged, pausing as they reached an intersection. "And really, it was hard to blame him. _I_ sure had trouble believing in time travel before it actually happened to me." Aoba chuckled. "As it was… Dio wasn't such a bad guy. Still an obnoxious bastard, but after he saw my memories, he was nothing but supportive."

"It's good to have friends that will back you up," Hina agreed. She looked a little sad now, and he thought he knew why.

"_I'm_ here for you, Hina," he said firmly. "If you tell me to go away, I will, but otherwise you're not getting rid of me."

She looked away, blushing just faintly. "I know, Aoba."

Aoba changed the subject after that, wondering aloud how bad class would be the first day after major repair work, and a more comfortable atmosphere descended for the remainder of the trip to the station.

When they actually reached the station, they found Ryutaro waiting for them. Aoba had of course expected that-but had failed to consider the implications of the change in the usual routine. He'd met his friend here dozens of times, of course, since starting at their new school back in April.

He'd always done so _alone,_ however.

Ryutaro grinned at him on sight, waving a hand in greeting, only to do a double take when he realized Aoba _wasn't_ alone this time. "Yumihara?" He stared for a moment, then turned an extremely curious look on Aoba. "Hey, Aoba! Since when do you come to school with Yumihara?"

Aoba laughed nervously, scratching his head. "Well, you know," he said awkwardly. "Things happened. That giant robot attack and everything; Hina and I ended up running away from it together…"

"You're even on a first-name basis?!"

…_Ooops._ _Wait! I've got an idea!_

"Well, you know," Aoba said again. "You get shot at by mecha, it's kind of a quick way to get to know each other. Didn't somebody once say friendship is more about trial than time?"

Ryutaro looked at him speculatively. "I think that's a new one on me, Aoba. But whatever. Good to see you're making friends."

Hina was laughing now, covering her mouth with her hand in a vain attempt to conceal it. _Glad to know _somehow_ finds this funny,_ Aoba thought. _You're not the one who only barely headed off the teasing of a lifetime._

"Actually," Hina said now, as the three of them started toward the train, "my apartment was pretty much wrecked during the attack. Aoba and I were separated during it, so when I went to his house looking for him, his mother offered to let me stay there for a while."

"…_You're living together?!"_

Aoba's face palm probably registered on the city's disaster alert system. Alas, it still wasn't as loud as Ryutaro's shocked exclamation.

* * *

Aoba thought it was fortunate that Ryutaro seemed to think he owed Aoba, for whatever reason. The injured athlete fired off a dozen questions and launched into weapons-grade teasing, but he agreed readily enough -after the shock wore off- not to spread the news around. Even Junichi would be kept in the dark about Hina's current living arrangements.

_Thank goodness it's Ryutaro, not Junichi, that takes the same train I do. Better if nobody else even knows Hina and I are coming to school together, let alone that she's living in my house._

School itself felt very strange, after being away so long. Aoba had gotten used to life-or-death struggles; the old concerns of an average high school student seemed almost plebian by comparison. When you'd gotten used to being shot at on a regular basis, worrying about grades felt almost meaningless.

To his annoyance, being good at maneuvering a humongous mecha at high speeds while under fire did nothing to make History any easier. He'd just about fallen asleep during Nasu Mayuka's lectures on the seventy years of history he'd missed; the regular kind wasn't any better at keeping his attention.

On the flip side, Aoba did find geometry considerably easier than he used to, and he'd learned a fair bit of physics thanks to his experiences with the Coupling System. The tricky part was that some of "current" scientific theory had been proven wrong by the 2080s, so he had to remind himself more than once not to base his answers on science that hadn't been worked out yet.

Hina, he noticed with mixed relief and annoyance, didn't seem to have that problem. Of course, she'd had several more months than he to get used to it, but it still seemed dreadfully unfair. Sure, he'd learned combat Valiancer piloting in just a few _hours,_ but he'd had the advantage of the Coupling System. Surely he'd have an easier time readjusting to his own time than she did learning it for the first time!

Deep down, though, he knew he wouldn't have it any other way. She was here, with him, without constant danger of death. He'd forgive a lot for that. Being upstaged by her academically was a very small price to pay.

After a couple of weeks, Aoba had begun to readjust at last. In the end, after all, he'd only been away a few weeks, subjectively, and came back to the very same day everything began. It wasn't like he'd truly settled into the society of the future, completely assimilated into another culture. He still had Luxon NX lying out in the sea, and he'd tucked his flightsuit and a couple of other odds and ends in a locker Hina used for her gear, but he didn't have any day to day reminders of _Cygnus_ or the war.

Were it not for Hina herself and the few skills and bits of memory he retained from Coupling with Dio, that war might've just been a long, strange dream he'd had.

Even so, even when he finally settled back into the life of an ordinary high school student, something still felt different to Aoba. He had the strangest feeling that he wasn't looking at the world the same way his classmates were, that he could see things they couldn't. He was back, everything was the same as it was before…

But _he_ wasn't, somehow.

* * *

Hina was the one who articulated it to him, late one night. They'd gotten into a habit of her quietly slipping into his room at night, after his family was asleep, to chat for a little bit. It was a good time to discuss things they didn't dare let anyone else hear.

And, deep down, Aoba just liked her company. The way she inevitably ended up curled up against him, under the blankets these days, no longer felt awkward and uncomfortable, just cozy and warm.

_Well,_ he'd realized one night, _I guess it really shouldn't have been that awkward to begin with. I mean, we've linked _minds;_ why should this bother us?_

"You _are_ different," Hina said to him this night, head resting comfortably on his shoulder. "We both are, but I dealt with this a couple of years ago, when I joined the Zogilian military to begin with. Aoba, these people have never known war; the most excitement any of them have probably had was Bizon's attack. They don't know what it's like to know you might be under attack at any moment. You've been making a note of every exit to a room when you first walk in, haven't you?"

Aoba started in surprise. "Now that you mention it… Huh. I didn't even realize I was doing it."

"You weren't a 'soldier' for very long, Aoba, but you must've picked up a lot from Dio," she pointed out. "From what you said of the time you two used Skyknight and Firebrand, you probably picked up a lot of his training; even the regular process was enough to teach you how to fly a Valiancer in just a few minutes of combat."

Now that she mentioned it, he realized she was right. He'd never been sure, in the end, how much of his piloting skill was his, and how much he just absorbed from Dio; he'd fallen out of the sky the first time the Coupling ended, but even then he'd retained enough to know how to land on his feet. That, just from the very first Coupling, before their Emphatier levels started skyrocketing.

_After_ that point, and especially the time they used the "dangerous" prototypes…

"There's more to it than that, I think," Hina continued. "Military training changes you, but not really much more than any other kind of prolonged education away from home. The real difference between us our and classmates… is that we've seen actual combat."

…_Oh. Of course. Of course that would… change things._

Aoba didn't know if it was something he'd absorbed from Dio via the Coupling System, or if he was just naturally more adaptable, but he'd never had much trouble with the fact that his job on the _Cygnus_ involved killing people. Quite a few of them, really, over the course of the battles he'd flown Luxon through. Maybe it was because he could rationalize that he was fighting machines, not people; he'd heard somewhere that fighter pilots tended to think that way, as a coping mechanism.

Maybe it was simpler than that. He understood one thing quite well: on the battlefield, it was kill or be killed. If you didn't shoot the enemy, he would shoot you, and then continue on to shoot those you were protecting. As terrible as killing was, sometimes the alternative was simply unacceptable.

_Could I have lived with myself if Mayuka-chan had died? Or Fiona? Or, hell, even that siscon bastard? No. They were just as much family to me as Tsubasa… And I'd sure as _hell_ never forgive myself if something happened to Hina because I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger!_

Yet Hina was right. However it was that Aoba rationalized the use of lethal force, however justified he was in doing so, it was still a rationalization most people never had to make. Ryutaro never had to make the choice of whether or not to pull a trigger, nor had he needed to learn if he could look at himself in the mirror afterward.

Almost no one Aoba had ever met, especially in this time, could truly understand that.

"We'll adapt eventually," Hina told him now, smiling up at him. "We have all the time in the world, now. We'll get used to just being ordinary students again; it's just that we'll be a little more prepared to deal with emergencies than our classmates."

"And if we ever have to talk it through," Aoba realized aloud, "we at least have each other."

Even without the Coupling System current lying under a couple dozen meters of water, he could feel the warmth of her reaction to that.

* * *

Time had a way of passing on, when loops and ontological paradoxes weren't involved. Winter arrived, months after Aoba came back through the time tunnel, and Hina finally found an apartment she considered acceptable. It was with some reluctance on all sides -Aoba's family having gotten used to Hina's presence, as well- that she moved out at last; there was, however, a promise extracted from her that she come to the Watase house for dinner, as well as breakfast whenever schedule permitted.

The promise wasn't exactly a hard one to get from her. As she privately admitted to Aoba, pretty much the only reason she moved out at all was concern for what might happen if word got out beyond Ryutaro that she was living with him. It _probably_ wouldn't have been too big a deal, but both of them were veterans of enough combat to not want to take chances.

Aoba couldn't say that he was looking forward to it. In fact, he was pretty sure he was even less happy about it than his sister, who was extremely disappointed at losing constant opportunities for teasing. Well and good that Hina would be around for as many meals as possible, and that he did still go to school with her; he'd still be losing the late-night chats he'd gotten so used to.

They could, and no doubt would, still call each other that time of night, but it wasn't the same as having her leaning against him, her body warm against his. He wasn't happy about losing that.

He'd realized over a month before that Ryutaro's teasing was right on the money. Dio, he was sure, was laughing somewhere, and calling him an idiot for not noticing sooner that he'd fallen hard for his companion.

Awkward realization, that. Aoba was torn between wishing he could come up with an excuse for them test out the Valiancers and see how she "felt" through the Coupling System, and being terrified that she'd figure out. He wasn't sure if he was more afraid that she didn't reciprocate, or that she did.

_I can travel through time without blinking. I can fight off entire squadrons of Valiancers without breaking a sweat. I can link my mind to another person, and shrug it off._

_Confessing to my best friend that I love her is the scariest thought that's ever entered my head._

* * *

Christmas Eve of 2014. Just a few days after Hina moved into her new apartment, and kind of cold, she chose that night to invite Aoba over for dinner, suggesting a quiet evening just for the two time travelers, rather than the usual meal at his house.

He wasn't about to complain. They hadn't had much time to themselves in days; though he did admit Tsubasa's parting barb about "behaving himself" did briefly dampen his enthusiasm. Very briefly.

"Sorry about the cold," Hina told him as she let him into the apartment. "The heating system is acting up for the entire building. The pipes shouldn't freeze, but it'll be a bit chilly."

"That's all right." Aoba grinned at her, following her into the cramped living room. "It still beats being stuck in a cave with the oxygen running out."

"Or almost drowning when the cave-in is finally cleared," she agreed, smiling back at him. "Dinner isn't much, but…"

"It's the company that counts."

The look that Hina gave him for _that_ comment made him feel indefinably tingly.

Dinner conversation was light, nothing heavy or war-related. They were both finally starting to settle into school life again, and even Hina was starting to have something resembling a social life. Now that she knew she was here to stay, she was putting together the foundation of a lasting life as well as she could.

There'd been a time when the only thing she really knew well was combat. That was beginning to change, and, fortune willing, she'd never have to put her old skills to use again.

Not that either of them was going to scrap their Valiancers or anything. Better safe than sorry. Indeed, they began to make lighthearted plans to move them somewhere safer than salt water, once they'd had a chance to scout around. Enough time had passed since Bizon's attack that the military's intense scrutiny was starting to die down; soon, it might be safe to retrieve them.

That was for another time, though. Right then, Aoba was just happy to have Hina by his side, safe and warm.

He was disappointed when he realized the hour was getting late. Worse, he could see that it was starting to look like a storm outside. "…I'd better get going soon," he said, with manifest reluctance. "I don't want to worry Mom and Tsubasa, especially with the weather…"

Hina's expression was… difficult to read. There was definitely a blush, but since she couldn't seem to meet his eyes, Aoba couldn't tell much more than that she was embarrassed about something. "Actually," she began, in a low voice, "I was going to ask you… if you could stay the night?"

Aoba stiffened. "Hina…?"

"Well, it's going to get cold," she said quickly, "and I don't really want you going out in that. And…" She hesitated. "This is my first Christmas Eve as a civilian, without my dad. I'd really like it if you could…"

He swallowed. Not that he was at all averse to the idea; entirely the contrary. But he knew the apartment had only the one bed, and there was the problem of his family expecting him home, and, and…

"If you can't, that's okay," Hina hastened to assure him. "I completely understand."

_No. You don't think it's okay. Even without Coupling, I can see that._

Aoba was not an idiot. He was actually fairly clever, when it came to battle tactics, and what was this but another kind of battle?

Eyes locked on Hina's downcast face, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly made a call. "Hey, Ryutaro?"

"_Yo, Aoba!"_ came the cheery response. _"What's up? I figured you'd be at Yumihara's place about now; was I wrong?"_

Aoba flushed, but forged ahead. "Actually, yeah. Which is why I need a favor." He hesitated, just briefly. "If anyone asks, can you tell them I got caught by the storm, and I'm staying the night at your place?"

The look of surprised relief on Hina's face was well worth the tension brought by the pregnant pause on the other end of the call. _",,,You got it, Aoba. Have a good night, buddy."_

Aoba sighed, relieved. "Thanks. I owe you one."

"_Hah. I still owe _you,_ remember. Tell Yumihara I said hi."_

"Ryutaro says 'hi'," he repeated dutifully, hurriedly typing up a text message and sending it off to his mother. "And he'll cover for me."

Hina broke into a wide smile. "Thanks, Aoba."

His stomach was doing interesting gymnastics. "Nah. My pleasure, Hina." Aoba shivered slightly; now that the tension was -well, not over, but lessened- he was noticing the cold she'd warned him about earlier. "Wow. You weren't kidding about the heat not working right, were you?"

"I've got plenty of blankets, so… we at least won't freeze." Hina froze, realizing what she'd just said. "Um, if you don't mind sharing…? I mean, I know it's awkward, but-"

"It's okay," Aoba assured her, mostly honestly. His blush probably gave him away, but it wasn't like she was in any position to talk. "I mean, if _you_ don't mind, I'd be glad to."

It _was_ getting cold, now; he had to wonder if the heat for the building had decided to give out entirely. It would be typical, he supposed, but it didn't make it any less potentially awkward.

Going to bed early seemed a wonderful idea just then, with the enticement of several layers of blankets. Fortunately for the modesty -and sanity- of both parties, the bedroom was at least closed off from the living room, allowing Hina to change in privacy.

"I have to admit," Hina said through the door, "I'm starting to wonder if I made the right choice of apartment after all. Maybe I should've checked the furnace before anything else."

The sound of rustling cloth that accompanied her voice was one Aoba found very distracting, but somehow he managed a coherent reply. "Maybe so. But before you make any rash decisions, you should probably check around for air conditioner conditions. You don't want to wind up dealing with the opposite problem come summer."

She laughed. "Maybe so. Or maybe I _will_ just move back to your place."

His stomach jumped again. "Well, I'm sure Tsubasa wouldn't complain."

"Well, that's something to think about later." Hina opened the bedroom door. "Um… come in."

She'd changed into a light sleeping yukata, which Aoba had to admit -_very _ privately- looked really good on her. He knew that she wasn't culturally Japanese (closer to Russian, from what he knew of the Zogilia of her time), but she'd certainly adapted to the styles quite well.

The bed was about the only feature of the room itself that he noticed. Piled thickly with blankets, it was a little wider than the bunk in his old quarters on the _Cygnus._ Very little, Aoba realized; definitely not wide enough for two people, unless they didn't mind overlapping.

Very, very privately, Aoba didn't mind that at all. From the look on Hina's face, she didn't seem to mind it, either.

He climbed in first, sliding beneath the heavy layers of blankets. He noticed somewhat absently that the bed smelled like Hina; absently, because Hina herself promptly turned out the lights and joined him. With space so tight, she ended up lying on top of him, chest pressing quite noticeably against his; not a sensation he minded, but definitely one that left him blushing brightly enough to compensate for the lack of lighting.

"H-Hina…"

Hina lifted herself up enough to look him in the eye, revealing that she, too, was blushing. She was also smiling, a smile he didn't think he'd ever seen before. "Merry Christmas, Aoba," she said, before leaning down to kiss him gently on the lips.

Pulling back, she giggled at Aoba's shocked look, and added, "I love you." Pressing herself more firmly against him, her kiss was firmer, deeper… and very much reciprocated.

* * *

**And Now, A Word From The Author**

As promised, my second Aoba/Hina one-shot. You will notice that this one is, ah, more overtly romantic than the first; this was a deliberate choice on my part, as sending them back in time allowed for more time to elapse, giving them more of an opportunity to sort out their own feelings. (Not to say that they weren't "in love" in _Echoing Unto Eternity;_ it's just that here, they've been able to fully realize the fact.)

Sadly, this is likely to be my _last_ Aoba/Hina fic for a while; not much material to work with from canon, as of yet. There's a strong possibility that I'll have more ideas when the conclusion to _Buddy Complex_ comes in the fall, and I may have unexpected inspiration before then, but in the meantime, this is pretty much it.

At least it was reasonably long, for a one-shot.

Oh, yes. Since writing the last fic, I've learned that Hina and Bizon's Valiancers have more specific names than "Proto-Valiancer 1 and 2", so expect a couple of minor edits to _Eternity_ soon.

…Apparently, that's all I need to cover just now. My next project will probably be in the _Blast of Tempest_ section so keep a lookout for me there. Eventually, I do have a much longer project waiting in the wings, but there's much groundwork to be laid before it's ready even to be announced. For now, one-shots it is, in sections that desperately need a breath of fresh sanity.

_A Seeker is always seeking, without knowing the answer until they are upon it…_


End file.
